The ability of giant hogweeds to form monodominant communities and even pure monostands in invaded areas has been well documented. Understanding of the mechanisms leading to monostand formation can aid in determining the limitations of existing community ecology models and establishing an effective management plan for invasive species elimination. The aim of this observational study was to investigate traits of Heracleum sosnowskyi plants (demography, canopy structure, morphology and physiology) of the plants in a pure stand in an invaded area useful for understanding potential monostand formation mechanisms. All measurements were performed in one typical Heracleum sosnowskyi monostand located in an abandoned agriculture field located in Syktyvkar city suburb (North-east Russia). This monostand consisted of five main plant growth stages: seed, seedling, juvenile, vegetative adult, and generative adult. Plants of all stages began to grow simultaneously shortly after the snowmelt, at the same time as spring ephemeral plant species grew. The density of generative plants did not change during the vegetation period, but the density of the other plant stages rapidly decreased after the formation of a tall (up to 2–2.5 m) and dense (Leaf area index up to 6.5) canopy. The canopy captured approximately 97% of the light. H. sosnowskyi showed high (several orders of magnitude higher than average taiga zone grasses) photosynthetic water use efficiency (6–7 μM CO2/μM H2O). Formation of H. sosnowskyi monostands occurs primarily in disturbed areas with relatively rich and well-moistened soils. Early commencement of growth, rapid formation of a dense canopy, high efficiency of light and water use during photosynthesis, ability of young plants to survive in low light conditions, rapid recovery of above-ground plant parts after damage, and the high density of the soil seed bank are the most important traits of H. sosnowskyi plants for monostand formation in invaded areas.
We studied the developmental changes in photosynthetic and respiration rates and thermal dissipation processes connected with chloroplasts and mitochondria activity in etiolated wheat (Triticum aestivum L., var. Irgina) seedlings during the greening process. Etioplasts gradually developed into mature chloroplasts under continuous light [190 µmol(photon) m -2 s -1 ] for 48 h in 5-day-dark-grown seedlings. The net photosynthetic rate of irradiated leaves became positive after 6 h of illumination and increased further. The first two hours of de-etiolation were characterized by low values of maximum (F v /F m ) and actual photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) and by a coefficient of photochemical quenching in leaves. F v /F m reached 0.8 by the end of 24 h-light period. During greening, energydependent component of nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence, violaxanthin cycle (VXC) operation, and lipoperoxidation activity changed in a similar way. Values of these parameters were the highest at the later phase of de-etiolation (4-12 h of illumination). The respiration rate increased significantly after 2 h of greening and it was the highest after 4-6 h of illumination. It was caused by an increase in alternative respiration (AP) capacity. The strong, positive linear correlation was revealed between AP capacity and heat production in greening tissues. These results indicated that VXC in chloroplasts and AP in mitochondria were intensified as energy-dissipating systems at the later stage of greening (after 4 h), when most of prolamellar bodies converted into thylakoids, and they showed the greatest activity until the photosynthetic machinery was almost completely developed.
Occurrences of the invasive plant species Heracleum
sosnowskyi Manden. in the Komi Republic (northeastern part of European Russia) were recorded and published in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF http://www.gbif.org) using the RIVR information system (http://ib.komisc.ru/add/rivr/en). RIVR stands for “Rasprostranenie Invasionnyh Vidov Rastenij” [Occurrence of Invasion Plant Species]. This citizen science project aims at collecting occurrence data about invasive plant species with the help of citizen scientists. Information can be added by any user after a simple registration (concept) process. However, the data published in GBIF are provided only by professional scientists. The total study area is approximately 19,000 km2. The GBIF resource contains 10894 Heracleum
sosnowskyi occurrence points, each with their geographical coordinates and photographs of the plants in the locus of growth. The preliminary results of species distribution modelling on the territory of European North-East Russia presented.
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